Only Yesterday Was The Time Of Our Lives
by chronicxxinsanity
Summary: Kakashi follows Obito into the forest, with Rin behind them. He doesn't remember why they're going where they are, and why Obito should most definitely not be walking beside him.


_AN: So I recently found the song 'Someone Like You' by Adele, and while this story isn't entirely based on the song, it has the same tone that I was going for. __The title is a small piece of the lyrics, and honestly my favorite line. I definitely suggest listening to it before or while reading this, just for the feel, I suppose. Anyway, enjoy. :)_

**Only Yesterday Was The Time Of Our Lives**

They had always walked like this, so perhaps that was why Kakashi felt so at ease. He walked slightly behind Obito - always the energetic one and rushing ahead before falling back to the other two. Kakashi walked with his hands in his pockets, watching Obito with lazy eyes. Rin trailed behind them, sometimes walking beside their sensei if he decided to join them. Today, though, Minato-sensei couldn't join them.

_Maybe it's because of the weather?_ Kakashi thought idly, watching Obito race forward to greet a friend. The past week had been nothing but icy cold rain, turning the dirt roads to mud and drowning the flowers outside of people's houses. It had turned the normally bright and beautiful Konoha into something that resembled a wet rat. Despite how unappealing the rain had made the town look, Kakashi's sharp nose picked up on his favorite smell - rain. Not that there was a very distinctive smell, more like a clean lack of smell. Kakashi knew from day one that Minato hated the rain, and by the look of the clouds he could understand why Minato refused to join them.

By the time Kakashi's mind was done wandering Obito had joined them again, sending Rin a smile that she ignored. That was nothing out of the ordinary, though. Rin would often ignore Obito completely or become irritated and hit him. With a second glance back, Kakashi realized that she didn't look like she was merely ignoring him and keeping a straight face, there was a frown pulling at the corners of her mouth and her downcased eyes looked dull instead of their normal vibrancy. She used to love the rain, like Kakashi, and it would brighten her mood instead of bring it down. Had that changed over the past few months?

"You're always walking so slow, _Hatake_, come on!" Obito shot Kakashi a goofy smile, poking the air inches away from Kakashi's arm and skipping forward when he moved to poke him back. Despite the verbal jab, Kakashi didn't pick up his pace. It was a normal argument between them that had once been real, and was now a reminder as to how they used to act as kids. Back then, Kakashi would have taken the insult to his speed to heart and would have at least punched Obito back for poking him. Now, however, he merely swatted his hand away or pretended to run after him, and smiled behind his mask at their old childish antics.

Obito, walking a few steps ahead of Kakashi now, turned to lead the other two outside of Konoha through one of the side entrances. It wasn't big, not nearly as large as the main south gates, but ever since Minato started leading them through this door on their way out of the village, their feet naturally brought them there. Obito pushed it open and waved happily to the guard sitting outside.

The man didn't smile back or even wave. In fact, he didn't so much as _look_ at Obito, who ignored the man and moved forward into the forest. He merely sat with his arms crossed over his chest, watching the forest with sad eyes. When Kakashi was younger, he wondered why they didn't just seal the area. The one, unnecessary door called for at least one more guard, and nobody would happily volunteer to sit beside a wall and see maybe one or two people per day. But even given the job normally handed down to the Chuunin or even Genin, the man looked miserable.

_What is wrong with everybody today?_ Kakashi thought, glancing back again at Rin. This time, she noticed, and attempted to smile back. Kakashi wished that she hadn't even tried. A fake smile from Rin was ugly compared to a real one. The moment she looked away, the fake, ugly smile fell off her face and she followed behind Kakashi once again with a sorrowfull gaze. Kakashi was about to turn around and ask her what was wrong when Obito grabbed his attention again, turning to the left through the trees and following along the wall of Konoha towards the north.

Kakashi followed, pushing passed a few ferns that covered the foot-wide path.

"Come on, Hatake. You'll be late!" Obito yelled out from ahead of them.

_Late? Late for what?_

Kakashi still didn't pick up the pace, but jumped over a stump to find himself in a clearly beside the wall that protected Konoha. The clearing was huge, and Kakashi remembered passing it every day to get to the training grounds, however, he had never stopped to look around. Rin followed him out of the clearing and ran into him, unaware that Kakashi had stopped beside Obito.

Kakashi stared at his teammate, unsure of what he was doing. With his head thrown back and his goggles in his hands, Obito stared up at the gray clouds that covered the sky. A goofy smile was plastered on his face, as normal, but it was unlike him to stop and appreciate the beauty of anything, much less the sky.

"What are you doing?" Kakashi finally asked, his voice quiet as he watched Obito's eyes follow the horizon and move to take in the different shades of gray.

"Look," Obito commanded, pointing up at the sky. Kakashi did as he was told and tilted his head back to look at the sky. He wasn't sure how long they both stood there, looking at the sky, but a voice drew his attention away.

"Kakashi?" Rin's voice was quiet, and Kakashi realized that she had stepped up beside him and was looking at him with curious (and still sad) eyes. "What are you doing?"

"Looking," he answered simply, turning to find that Obito was no longer standing beside him. He glanced back to the forest and down in the valley, but Obito wasn't there.

"Kakashi?" Rin brought his attention back to her once again. Rin nodded back towards to village.

The smile fell off of Kakashi's face. Beside the large wall was a stone. He had heard about it and seen it from afar, but never up close: the KIA stone. In front of the stone were rows of chairs, all curved to wrap around it. Kakashi had seen that too. When a ninja died in battle, their name was added to the Killed In Action stone and there was a small funeral held for the friends and family of the diseased. Kakashi glanced back at the forest.

_Did someone Obito know die? Is that why he didn't want to be late?_

Kakashi looked back to Rin, about to ask where he went. She looked at him, confused again. Her sad eyes inspected him closely as if he were ill. "Why do you think we're here?"

Kakashi looked back to the stone and rows of chairs again. With a sinking feeling in his gut, he noticed the large picture frame leaning against the stone. All the feeling left Kakashi's body as Obito smiled goofily at him from the pictue, eyes bright and goggles a little lopsided on his forehead. He jumped when Rin gently grabbed his hand, and he allowed her to pull him towards the chairs, unable to move or remove his eyes from the picture that stared back at him.

Rin led him through the rows of empty chairs to the very front, and pulled Kakashi towards the very front of the KIA stone, where Obito's picture sat on the ground. Rin sat down and merely looked at the picture with the same sad gaze as before, and motioned for Kakashi to sit down next to her. He did as he was told, and sat down heavily in the chair, still unable to feel his entire body.

A few rain drops hit his head and Kakashi jumped at the sudden feeling of rain seeping through his hair. A few more drops hit his feet, only halfway covered by the sandels, and a few hit his face. He brought his hand up to wipe them away and stopped when his finger tips touched the familiar feeling of bandages wrapped around his left eye.

Realization all came to him at once, so fast that he felt like he was hit by a train. His heart jumped into his throat as he looked down at the picture leaning against the stone, a few rain drops sliding down the glass that protected the smiling face beneath it.

"It's going to be okay, right?" Rin asked. Kakashi glanced over at her, unsure of what she was asking. Would what be okay? If his stomach could sink any lower or if his heart could jump higher into his through, it would have. Tears streamed down Rin's purple-marked cheeks, but even though she was crying her voice was firm. "Are we going to be okay?"

Kakashi couldn't think of anything to say. He couldn't lie to her and say that everything would go back to normal tomorrow or that they would all be fine without Obito. He also couldn't tell her the truth, that he would not be okay without his team mate and best friend.

"I don't know."


End file.
